Process of treating sugar-beets.



UNITED s'rATEs PATENT OFFICE.

MORIZ WEINRICH, OF YONKERS, NEW Y ORK.

PROCESS OF TREATING SUGAR-BEETS.

No Drawing.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 28, 1908.

Patented Feb. 22, 1910. ser aino. 464,837.

and the invention consists of the process which I Wlll hereinafterdescribe and chum.-

.In a prior patent granted to me on the lime salts formed. The pectincan be eliminatedlater by boiling the extracted juice with limeandfiltering it, but'it is well known that the detrimental lime-saltsare exceedingly difiicult to get rid of, or to decompose.

"An essential object of the present invention is to prevent theformation of lime-salts before mentioned, and this I accomplishsubstantially as follows :,I take finely comminuted sugar beets andintimately mix with the same in some suitable vessel, about 30% oftheirwveight of cold water or cold thin juice in which g to 1],- ofcaustic lime (CaO.) of weight of beets has been previously slaked. Thisthin milk of lime ispermitted to act.for about five (5) minutes on thejuice contained in the beet mush whereby a cold defecation is attained.Thereupon enough of a 1 to 2% solution of phosphoric acid (P0,) is addedto the solution and caret'u-lly mixed therewith until the mush showsonly a faint alkaline reaction. By this procedure not onlya' colddefecation but also a cold neutralization of the juice contained in theeet'is obtained, thus avoiding the dissolving of pectin matters and alsothe formation of lime-salts. By the term cold as herein employed, I meanthat the temperature of' the mush shallnot exceed 25 (1- The beet juiceextracted by pressing, as by passing it through roller presses,

The apparatus described in my aforesaid E former patent, No. 881,641,may beused to good advantage for the present process, although any otherapparatus capable of working the operations before described is withinthe scope of my present invention.

In order to reduce the expenses for neutralization, the thin solution ofphosphoric acid may become saturated with carbonic acid gas, orsulfurous acid' gas, or mixed with some oxalic acid (C O HO). I gener-The before described process may "also be lixiviating processes. Forthis purpose the beet chips are intimately commingled in a suitablemixer with athin milk of lime in the 'manner'hereinbefore described fortreating beet mush and then its alkalinity is likewise reduced by addingphosphoric acid, or a mixture of phosphoric acid and carbonic acid or.sulfurous acid or oxalic acid in the cold state. The beet- .chips thustreated are then subjected todifpressing process and the resultant juiceis then finished according to some one of the this purpose. hen usingthis latter variathe advantages enumerated in my aforesaid patent881,641 will be attained. On the ditional machinery.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is 1L The process herein described of coldneutralization of beet juice consisting essentially in adding milk oflime to beet mush or beet chips before diffusion or extraction byemployed to advantage with diffusion or well known methods usuallyemployed for tion of my process, however only a part of" other hand,existing factories could carry on the process with small extra expensefor ad- I lOth day of March, 1908, No. 881,641, I deally prefer,however, the use of phosphoric 15 scribe a process of treating sugarbeets acid alone because when using of lime,

wherein lir'ned beet mush is heated to 60-65 the amount of the acidrequired is small, 6., the'excess of lime then neutralized .by while thephosphate of lime formed and demeans of phosphoric acid, then heatedfurposited in the pressed pulp increases the ther to 7075 O., andfinally the thus defefeeding value of the pulp and thereby com- 7 20cated and neutralized juice is extracted by pensates for part of thecostof the acid used. passing it through roller presses. The extractedjuice is designed to be treated .In my experiments I have found that bywith some more lime and is then neutralized heating the alkalinebeet-mushflto 6065 G; and finished in one of the ways .well known somepectin matters become, dissolved and in this art.

a thin solution of fusion process or a combinedlixiviating or ressureand while in a cold state, then add- 5 mush treated in the mannerdescribed isnow lng-sufiicient PhOSPhOIlG acld to neutralize heated toapproximately. 75 C. and the the excess of lime, then heating themixture to about 75 0., and finally extracting the thus neutralizedjuice.

2. The process herein described of cold 5 neutralization of beet "juiceconsisting essentially in adding milk of lime to beet mush or beet chipsbefore difiusion or extraction lay pressure and while in a cold state,then ad mg sufficient of an acid solution to neutralize 10 the excess oflime and impart-to the mush or chips a slight alkaline reaction, thenheating the mixture to about 7 5 C., and finally extracting the thusneutralized juice.

In testimon v whereof .I- afiix my signature in presence 0 twowitnesses.

MORIZWEINRIGH;

Witnesses: l

JAMES S. Frron; THEODORE Frrcn.

